By Adityakrishna Deora

In recent weeks, protests have erupted in Rajasthan against changes made to NCERT’s Class 8 history textbook. These demonstrations – led not only by university students and civic activists, but also by members of erstwhile royal families – reflect a deep unease about how India’s historical narrative is being reshaped in school curricula.

The protests were initially localised to Rajasthan, but their concerns are hardly parochial. The revisions have implications for how millions of students across the country – in states as varied as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir – encounter the histories of the regions in which they live. They also raise broader questions about whose histories are being amplified, whose are being truncated, and what political purposes, such editorial decisions, it may serve.

Two striking asymmetries define the new Class 8 syllabus. First, entire chapters on the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal dynasty have been reduced to passing references, erasing centuries of cultural, political and architectural contribution. Second, the histories of Rajput dynasties across northern India – from the Tomars, Chauhans, Solankis of Northwestern India, to the Pratihars, Chandels and Parmars of Central India, and Gaharwars and Kalchuris of eastern India – have been compressed into two meagre pages. By contrast, the Maratha state is now allocated 22 pages.

This is not simply “Hindus vs Muslims.” It is a case of selective glorification: privileging Maratha history while diminishing Rajput and Muslim legacies. To understand why, one must recognise that the roots of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindutva politics lie in the Maharashtrian Brahmin milieu, and this regional parochialism is now being projected as the “national story”.

What has changed?

The Class 8 history syllabus, which covers the early modern period, has undergone significant restructuring. The most conspicuous change is the disparity in space allotted to different regional histories and historical entities. 

Maratha history now receives an expansive 22 pages: a detailed, often celebratory narrative that focuses heavily on the military exploits of the Maratha confederacy, especially the Peshwa leadership in the 18th century.

This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.